NASA to Help Unlock Mysteries of Mars’ Moons in Upcoming Mission
NASA is playing an important role in JAXA’s (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) MMX (Martian Moons eXploration) mission, to advance our understanding of Mars’ moons and build on the agency’s long history of exploring the Red Planet. The mission aims to characterize and determine the origin of Mars’ moons Phobos and Deimos and deliver a sample […]
NASA is contributing crucial knowledge to JAXA's upcoming Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) mission, which aims to unlock secrets of Mars' moons Phobos and Deimos. The mission, scheduled to launch from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center on October 19, seeks to characterize the moons and return a sample of Phobos to Earth. NASA's MEGANE spectrograph will analyze the moon's composition through neutrons and gamma rays, while the Pneumatic Sampler will gather surface material from Phobos.
NASA will curate approximately 15% of the returned sample at its Johnson Space Center for decades of research. The mission's findings will help answer questions about the origins of Mars' moons and their role in the solar system's history, particularly in understanding the early acquisition of water and organic compounds by Earth and other inner planets.
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